“I love light and I hate to see windows cluttered up by kilos of fabric, however precious it might be! A window is an opening on the exterior – a link to life.”

It wasn’t until he received the catalogue of the forthcoming Piasa sale last week that A-Gent of Style discovered for the first time Lilou Grumbach-Marquand and fell instantly head over heels for her work. Keen to delve into her work, A-Gent of Style could not find much information (online) about the already ever secretive and private artist. But going through the sale catalogue proved to be a revelation and a treat.

Madame Grumbach-Marquand has been making sublime screens, partitions, blinds, canopies, banners, beds and kimono stands for the last 20 years and has been adored by leading decorators such as Peter Marino, Jacques Grange, Frank de Biaisi but also Diane von Furstenberg for whom she has made a veiled four-poster bed.

PIASA auctioneers are paying tribute to her exceptional talent by offering a score of her remarkable creations on October 25 in Paris, a rare chance to see and own her private creations. The lucky ones who will be in Paris from tomorrow Friday 21 October will be able to see the pieces at the sale exhibition prior to the auction.

Her every designs are unique and made by hand from a luxuriant and fine range of unusual materials – ribbons, braid, tassles, silver or amber balls, gingko leaf, passementerie, fiber, silk, linen, metals, plant fibres, edging of Indian sari. They result in spectacular and refined creations infused with a sense of poetry, and her influences of the far and middle east mingle with European and French sensibilities whilst having subtle echoes of India, Turkey, Africa or Japan. The main thing is that each material guarantees ‘the purest transparency.’ The screen is a time-honoured element of decoration, filtering light and transcending interiors by redesigning their contours.

Now living in Paris’s Marais district, Lilou Marquand had the privilege of being Mademoiselle Coco Chanel’s closest collaborator for fifteen years (for several weeks she waited for Mademoiselle Chanel outside the Ritz, wearing a Chanel dress. Chanel finally noticed her and gave her a job). In the proximity of the « grande dame » of couture, known for her refined sense of colour and her flawless eye for details, Lilou Marquand’s own sensibility quickly developed and so did her obsession with lightness and light. Using her apartment as a creative studio, Lilou designs and creates projects for clients the world over. She recently created an enclosed space for Diane Von Fustenberg, which was on display at the Von Fustenberg’s studio in New York.

There is a very important event not to be missed at the moment in London. Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler are currently celebrating until December 5, 2016 artist Jeremiah Goodman and hosting his first London show in the iconic Nancy Lancaster’s Yellow Room, Brook Street. This exhibition, beautifully curated by Dean Rhys Morgan, is slightly tinted with emotions as it the last time one will be able to visit this incredible place before the company moves their headquarters by the end of the year to Pimlico Road (the room has already been stripped of all its furniture). Consider it the end of an era. If you haven’t been yet, this is your last chance.

Photo from Jeremiah’s Instagram

Jeremiah, as he is simply known, is the famed watercolour and gouache illustrator revered within the interior design and architectural communities for his rare ability to infuse empty rooms with warmth and personality. He has worked in some of the most exclusive enclaves in the world and has been commissioned by an illustrious clientèle ranging from the world of literature and theatre (Edward Albee, Greta Garbo, Sir John Gielgud), music (Richard Rodgers), fashion (Yves Saint Laurent, Elsa Schiaparelli, Diana Vreeland, Carolina Herrera), art (Cecil Beaton, Pablo Picasso), interior decoration (Dorothy Draper, Billy Baldwin, David Hicks, Mario Buatta), socialites (the Rothschilds, Betsy Bloomingdale), royalty (The Duchess of Windsor), politics (the Reagans), to name but a few, and more recently influential people such as Bruce Weber and the Reed-Krakoffs.

Back in New York, the unstoppable artist – a true gentleman with whom I have had enjoyable conversations on Instagram – can be found every day at his drawing board in his Upper East side apartment working on private commissions but also on commercial assignments for advertisements, catalogues and artworks. His work is in the permanent collections of both the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Bust in bronze of Jeremiah by Richard Frazier, 1953

His stylish and studied renderings have been published in some of the most distinguished publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, House & Garden, Vogue, Vanity Fair magazines, The New York Times and Interior Designmagazine whose covers he illustrated every month for 15 years from 1949 until 1964. He received in 1987 the prestigious Hall of Fame Award in recognition for his contribution in the field of Interior Design. Throughout his career, Jeremiah also embarked on numerous furniture design and product design projects such as fabrics and wallpapers.

A-Gent of Style adores the enchanting, moody atmosphere and unique air of mysticism that emanate from Goodman’s plates of artwork. There is a great sense of emotions, drama and ephemera in each of his watercolours but also depth and movement despite the static nature of this medium. One can’t but admire the way he captures light and shadow, and infuse rooms with warmth and personality, consequently giving them vitality and life.

PAD turned 1o this year. The latest instalment of PAD London on Berkeley Square just closed its doors and left many of us, antiques and design lovers, inspired and enraptured once again with this annual rendez-vous of first-class furniture, decorative objets, jewellery, photography, tribal and modern art represented by 65-odd world-class exhibitors.

The variety and stylistic combinations of the vignettes and their ‘eclectibles’ created beautiful relationships and synergies between seemingly disparate notables that read like a roll call of 20th C museum-quality pieces all commanding incredible provenance, rarity, authenticity and integrity.

Here are A-Gent of Style’s highlights of this year’s fair, for your eyes only…